During the last days remaining in this year's legislative session, the House of Delegates is considering a critical measure that would strengthen drunken driving laws and save lives in West Virginia.

The House should move swiftly to consider SB 535, a bill that unanimously passed in the Senate. This bill is the product of an interim committee study with input from nearly a dozen agencies and organizations, including law enforcement, prosecutors and the Division of Motor Vehicles.

The bill creates a new criminal statute and administrative sanction called "aggravated drunk driving" for drunken drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 and above and requires alcohol ignition interlocks for first-time aggravated drunk drivers.

The bill also creates strong incentives for interlock participation for those offenders with lower blood alcohol levels.

In addition to saving hundreds of lives and preventing thousands of injuries, the bill would ease the burden on the counties' regional jail costs by reducing sentences for first-time offenders. The bill would also allow offenders to regain their driving privileges sooner with the installation of an ignition interlock device.

In 2006, 129 people were killed by a drunken driver in West Virginia, an increase of more than 17 percent from the year before. Last year, West Virginia law enforcement officers arrested an average of 19 people every day for first-offense drunken driving.

People continue to drive drunk because they can. First-time offenders have driven drunk an average of 87 times before their first arrest. Law enforcement alone cannot keep drunken drivers off of the streets; a technological solution is also needed. Alcohol ignition interlocks are up to 90 percent effective on vehicles -- when they're used. Evidence shows that if all states required interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers, we could save up to 4,000 lives a year.

Like so many issues, public opinion is ahead of our policies. Sixty-five percent of the public supports requiring the installation of interlocks in the vehicles of all convicted drunken drivers. Even 82 percent of offenders believe interlocks are effective and fair. It's time to make it law in every state, including West Virginia.

In West Virginia, current DUI laws only require alcohol ignition interlocks for those convicted of a second or subsequent drunken driving offense, meaning West Virginians are sharing the road with thousands of convicted drunken drivers each time they back out of their driveway.

Alcohol ignition interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers is a critical piece of MADD's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving, which also calls for high visibility law enforcement, development of advanced vehicle technology to prevent a vehicle from being driven by anyone who is impaired and mobilization of community support. We envision a day in the near future when drunken driving is totally eliminated.

I urge you to continue the fight against drunken driving in your community and to join with MADD in our efforts to stop drunken driving. Please ask your delegate to act now in support of SB 535 before the legislative session ends on March 8. We cannot give convicted drunken drivers another year to drive recklessly on West Virginia's roadways at the expense of the families in our state.

Hawkins is executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in West Virginia.

During the last days remaining in this year's legislative session, the House of Delegates is considering a critical measure that would strengthen drunken driving laws and save lives in West Virginia.

The House should move swiftly to consider SB 535, a bill that unanimously passed in the Senate. This bill is the product of an interim committee study with input from nearly a dozen agencies and organizations, including law enforcement, prosecutors and the Division of Motor Vehicles.

The bill creates a new criminal statute and administrative sanction called "aggravated drunk driving" for drunken drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 and above and requires alcohol ignition interlocks for first-time aggravated drunk drivers.

The bill also creates strong incentives for interlock participation for those offenders with lower blood alcohol levels.

In addition to saving hundreds of lives and preventing thousands of injuries, the bill would ease the burden on the counties' regional jail costs by reducing sentences for first-time offenders. The bill would also allow offenders to regain their driving privileges sooner with the installation of an ignition interlock device.

In 2006, 129 people were killed by a drunken driver in West Virginia, an increase of more than 17 percent from the year before. Last year, West Virginia law enforcement officers arrested an average of 19 people every day for first-offense drunken driving.

People continue to drive drunk because they can. First-time offenders have driven drunk an average of 87 times before their first arrest. Law enforcement alone cannot keep drunken drivers off of the streets; a technological solution is also needed. Alcohol ignition interlocks are up to 90 percent effective on vehicles -- when they're used. Evidence shows that if all states required interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers, we could save up to 4,000 lives a year.

Like so many issues, public opinion is ahead of our policies. Sixty-five percent of the public supports requiring the installation of interlocks in the vehicles of all convicted drunken drivers. Even 82 percent of offenders believe interlocks are effective and fair. It's time to make it law in every state, including West Virginia.

In West Virginia, current DUI laws only require alcohol ignition interlocks for those convicted of a second or subsequent drunken driving offense, meaning West Virginians are sharing the road with thousands of convicted drunken drivers each time they back out of their driveway.

Alcohol ignition interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers is a critical piece of MADD's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving, which also calls for high visibility law enforcement, development of advanced vehicle technology to prevent a vehicle from being driven by anyone who is impaired and mobilization of community support. We envision a day in the near future when drunken driving is totally eliminated.

I urge you to continue the fight against drunken driving in your community and to join with MADD in our efforts to stop drunken driving. Please ask your delegate to act now in support of SB 535 before the legislative session ends on March 8. We cannot give convicted drunken drivers another year to drive recklessly on West Virginia's roadways at the expense of the families in our state.

Hawkins is executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in West Virginia.